Office of the

Dean of the Faculty

Faculty Handbook - Fall 2007

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IV. E. PAID LEAVE

(Source: Minutes of the Faculty, December 6, 2004)

Paid leave awards are intended to enhance Faculty scholarship, “defined as knowledge and understanding of, and active engagement with, the materials of one's discipline and, where appropriate, of related disciplines” (Faculty Constitution, Article IV. Section 2. B). In all cases, the ultimate goal of a paid leave is “the enrichment of the curriculum and the stimulation of the intellectual life of the community at large” (Faculty Handbook, II.H.). Paid leaves will support salary funding at one-half the applicant's normal annual salary (plus continuation of all benefits), whether they are the sole source of funds or are supplementary to other funds available for salary. They will be awarded on the basis of project proposals, which may involve the completion of some stage of a work in progress (a book, article, musical score, etc.), the development of courses that make substantially new contributions to the curriculum, or the mastery of a new field of specialization. On return from paid leave, a faculty member will be expected to make a formal presentation to the Reed Community of the outcome of the project, and will also be expected to prepare a report for his or her evaluation file.

1. To be provided by applicants

  1. A completed cover page.
  2. A brief (300 word) description of the project, intended for a non-specialist audience.
  3. A detailed description of the project (not to exceed 1500 words), comprising both a specific statement of the hypothesis to be tested, the questions to be answered, or the goals to be achieved and an account of the project's significance to the field, the curriculum, and the faculty member's intellectual and/or professional development.
  4. A description of the relationship of this award to other possible sources of funding, and the total funding required to complete the project.
  5. A curriculum vitae and a summary of outcomes of recent leaves or summer research projects.
  6. Two letters of support. To the extent possible, letters should come from persons with expertise in the relevant field or area of specialization.

2. Criteria for award of a paid leave

  1. First and foremost, the excellence of the proposal (see a-f above) and the likelihood of the project’s completion.
  2. Paid leaves will be awarded to all untenured tenure-track faculty whose probationary period is either five or six years of full-time teaching at Reed, whose initial appointment was not deferred because of extramural professional development opportunities, who have earned the terminal degree in an appropriate field, and whose proposals are judged to be excellent. (For individuals who fall into this category except that their original proposals are not judged to be excellent, the Paid Leave Award Committee shall communicate its concerns through the Dean of the Faculty, and shall invite revised proposals for reconsideration in the same academic year.) Normally, untenured faculty will take the paid leave in the third or fourth year of the probationary period.
  3. For all other faculty submitting proposals judged to be excellent, preference will be given to applicants who will take the paid leave in the same year as a sabbatical.

3. Eligibility

CAPP will certify eligibility for paid leave before applications are reviewed by the Paid Leave Award Committee. Eligibility is governed by Section C of the Rules of Procedure of the Faculty Constitution, and by Guidelines approved by the faculty (February 3, 1997). Applicants should request their departments to forward staffing plans incorporating their potential leaves to CAPP. CAPP cannot certify eligibility until a complete staffing plan has been received and reviewed.

Faculty are not eligible to apply for a Paid Leave Award until they have served at least one full year at Reed. Also, faculty are not eligible to apply during the year prior to the year of their tenure decision. (Faculty whose appointments began September 2000 or earlier are exempted from this latter provision.)

For candidates who apply for a Paid Leave Award during the year of their tenure decision, information about Paid Leave Awards for such candidates will be withheld until after the tenure decisions are made. Candidates denied tenure would be ineligible for Paid Leave Awards. In the event of a tenure denial to a candidate who otherwise would have won a Paid Leave Award, the Paid Leave Award committee may subsequently choose to grant the award to a runner-up candidate.

Faculty who have been on paid leave may apply for a second award no sooner than in the third year after the previous leave. Exceptions will be made if the first of two paid leaves was taken as a junior faculty member. In any case, more than two awards in a nine year period will be exceptional.

4. Constitution of the Awards Committee

The Dean of Faculty will appoint a representative from each division of the College with the approval of CAT and CAPP. Members of CAPP and CAT are eligible. Committee service will be for two year terms, staggered for purposes of continuity. Faculty members planning to apply for the awards in any given year are not eligible to serve on the committee that year.

5. Review of the Program

The entire Paid Leave Award Program, and in particular the above guidelines, will be reviewed and evaluated by the Committee on Advancement and Tenure during the 2010-2011 academic year. CAT will report its findings and recommendations to the faculty.

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